When we describe a watch we often try to categorize it into a specific type… which make complete sense if you don’t think about it.
A watch measures time. Interesting watches are beautiful, intricate and have great craftsmanship. Watches can also have features or complications that make them more helpful to the wearer, or limitations that make them ill-suited for certain environments, but all watches exist on a spectrum. Historical rules regarding what can or should be worn when, are now very blurred.

I was trying to show that the same watch could worn at many different places across the spectrum from very casual to very dressy and it is typically easier to dress a watch down than up. Instead I may have proven that David Beckham is a fashion icon and can do no wrong.
Categories
Do It All Watches – AKA “One Watch Collection”:
A do it all watch as the name implies is a watch that can reasonably worn in all situations. To me this can take one of 3 forms.
- Your only watch. If you have 1 watch and you want to wear a watch, which watch are you going to reach for? In practice this means your 1st watch probably shouldn’t be a bright yellow G-Shock, if you want to wear a watch when you wear a suit.
- A cheap black watch. Bill Clinton occasionally wore a Timex , many Prime Ministers have worn G-Shocks, and most people had a time they couldn’t afford an expensive watch, A cheap black watch is a symbol of someone that is practical and punctual and no one should think twice about it. I’d suggest a Casio F91W or GWM5610.
- A simple watch on a bracelet or black strap. Most sports watches on a bracelet or a simple watch can be dressed down to basketball shorts or up to a suit. This works best with a white or black dials.
Sports Watches
A sports watch is a watch that is durable, water-resistant to 50m+, and made from materials that can withstand harder use and harsher environments. Think polymers, stainless steel, titanium… not precious metals, jewels and leather (typically).
Sports watches can be further segmented into the next 3 categories…
Dive Watches
A dive watch as the name implies has features and capabilities that might be important to a diver most notably a turn-able bezel with markings to track duration, water resistance to 100, case strength and corrosion resistance. These watches tend to be chunkier due to the strength requirements and therefore tend to be more casual than some other sports watches, but the cost of many of them and the desire to appear adventurous make them common in the office as well. In fact the team “Office Diver” has been coined for a dive watch that is too nice for the wear to risk as a diver, worn solely for the look.
Tool / Military Watches
Tool watches are typically designed with extremely legible markings to make them easy to read at a glance. Often they will have finishes that are brushed rather than polished and often have better lume than other watches to make them easier to seen in lower light. Additionally watches like a flieger may prioritize minute markings over a hour markings for use by pilots.
Because of the simple design, many of these watches are “strap monsters” meaning that they can change their look considerable simply by changing the strap, which may be a valuable option for those looking for a do it all watch.
Chronographs
A chronograph is actually a complication that allows for the measuring of elapsed time with great accuracy, while maintaining the current time, and makes it easier with a user initiated start. They are easily identified by the presence 2 or 3 sub-dials that record the hour, minutes and seconds and additional pushers used to stop, start and reset the function. Typically this is on a watch that could otherwise be defined as a sports watch, but usually they are separated as their own class.
Dress Watches
A dress watch is typically smaller and more fragile than a sports / everyday watch. They often have a higher level of craftsmanship with more complications, more time consuming finishes and use more premium materials in their design. They would likely not hold up to a hard days work and are therefore better admired in a formal setting.
“Beater” Watches
The term beater watch is a pejorative term towards a watch that is worn without regard for damage it my incur that would impact its looks, lifespan or value. A sultan may wear an AP Royal as “beater” the way I wear my “Casioak.” and I have a Longines Hydroconquest that I use as a stunt double for other watches in higher risk areas, that might be a grail watch for other.
The term doesn’t describe the watch as much as it does the amount of thought that goes into when and where it is worn… nearly none.
Complications
A watch complication is any function on a watch that goes beyond displaying the time. Complications can range from simple to complex, and are a sign of a watchmaker’s skill and precision.
Date Complications
All of the various date complications use the standard watch mechanism to additionally show the day of the month on the face. In all cases the date needs to be manually advanced to the 1st following months with less than 31 days.
- Date – The most simple complication to show the date uses a wheel hidden below the face and jump turns it 1/31st of a turn every second time the hour hand makes a full revolution. This is the most simple because the disc does not need to be controlled via the arbor in the center of the watch.
- Pointer Date – Like the date the Pointer Date jump turns 1/31st of a turn every second time the hour hand makes a full revolution; however it uses a requires a 4th pointer that references 31 dates on the chapter ring of the watch.
- Large Date – The large date uses a combination of 2 wheels to show the date and allows for a larger number that could be represented on 1/31st of a disc. One wheel controls the tens number and the other the 1’s. The 10’s digit jumps 1/4, 1/8 or 1/12 of a turn every revolution of the 1’s digit and the 1’s digit disc jumps 1/10th a day.
- Day-Date – The day date shows both the day of the week and the day of the month. This complication works like the large date, with 2 discs, but the day turns 1/7th, 1/14th or 1/21st each day in addition to the Date complication.
Calendar Complications
- Triple Calendar – A triple calendar adds the Month to a Day-Date. Similarly it needs to be manually reset after any month that does not have 31 days.
- Annual Calendar – An Annual calendar displays the same as a triple calendar, but only needs to be corrected after February in non-leap years.
- Perpetual Calendars – The perpetual calendar is builds the next step and does not need to be reset after the common leap year every 4 years, but would need to be corrected in 2100 because it would not be a leap year.
- Moon Phase – Moon phases use a disc and the shape of the aperture to display the phase of the moon. Because this is not easily divisible by the number days, the moon phase is not as accurate as the rest of the complications, but it is visually interesting.
Travel Complications
- GMT – GMT is an abbreviation of Greenwich Mean Time, when it come to watches if just references the ability to show more than one time zone at a time. Typically this is shown as a 4th hand that revolves around the pinon once every 24 hours and can be read on a 24 hour bezel. Sometimes that bezel can be turned to indicate a 3rd time zone.
- World Timer –
Chronograph Complications
Chronographs be either built into the base movement of the watch or added as a module to a base caliber. Integrated chronographs are the most elegant option, but it also requires specialist watchmaking skills and is often more expensive; while modular chronographs are more affordable.
Either chronograph movements can work in a number of different ways including:
- Flyback – A one-touch pusher can reset and restart the chronograph, allowing you to track multiple intervals in quick succession.
- Retropunt – also known as a split-seconds or double chronograph, this type of chronograph allows you to time multiple events.
- Bi-compax – also known as a twin-register model, this type of chronograph has two sub-dials, one for seconds and one for elapsed minutes.
- Tri-compax – This type of chronograph has three sub-dials, one for seconds, one for chronograph minutes, and one for hours.
Most Chronographs have 2 pushers, how ever some, known as a Monopusher use a single pusher to start, stop, and reset the stopwatch.
Last many Chronographs have scales printed on the bezel used to easily calculate speed, distance frequency.
Power Reserve
Powe Reserves typically show as a small dial that either shows how long it has been since it was last wound or how much time remains before it is wound again.
Notifications
- Alarm – An alarm allows wearer to identify a specific time, via a 4th hand, that will flip a switch and allows the remaining energy in the mainspring to be released into a hammer that strikes a ‘gong’ until the energy is gone. The wearer would then need to rewind the watch.
- Repeaters – At the press of a button a repeater will chime out the hours, quarter hours and minutes of the current time.
Tourbillon
Tourbillon’s are devices in mechanical watches that allow for the effects of gravity on a watches escarpment, in certain positions, to be counteracted; allowing for them to be averaged out over time to improve accuracy.